


Curse Breakers

by velvet_sometimes



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Apprenticeships, Curse Breaking, Curses, Disney Songs, Egypt, F/M, Hogwarts Seventh Year, Humor, Pyramids, Romance, cairo, for a reason, missing draco, no half blood prince, ooc draco, partners
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-23
Updated: 2013-08-23
Packaged: 2017-12-24 11:01:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 14,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/939198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/velvet_sometimes/pseuds/velvet_sometimes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A story of what happens when you learn to control the chaos in your life with a little more of the same. And how some subtle plotting, a couple of Disney songs, and the color purple, can bring people together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In Which a letter is Received

**Author's Note:**

> This story is NOT Cannon. Draco is out of character. I'm aware of this fact. And its AU in that The Half Blood Prince and The Deathly Hallows didn't happen. Draco did not Complete his mission. Nor did he take the mark; He fled instead and is MISSING for the entirety of the war. PLEASE keep that in mind when freaking out because he's out of character or knowing things you don't think he should. Also, If you plan to review, don't just leave me a message saying there are errors my beta missed; if you spot one, please tell me what it is and I will go back in and fix it. Thank you.

Chapter 1: Beginnings

Bathsheda Babbling watched her classroom with an anxious exuberance. Today was the day that her seventh years would find out who qualified for the apprenticeship in Egypt.

Ancient Runes was a required course for those looking to become Curse Breakers for Gringotts, and only a handful of students each year were selected for the apprenticeships. This year two of her students were eligible, almost unheard of.

The classroom was full of whispering students, jostling each other as they stood, waiting to hear the news. Nervous faces looked at her expectantly.

Clearing her throat, she began. "As you all know, the results of your applications have come in today. And this year, two of your year-mates have been chosen." Shocked exclamations sounded. She had to raise her hand for silence again before continuing. "Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger, would you please step forward and receive your Gringotts letters?"

All eyes turned to the pair, who were slowly making their way to the front of the room. Cheers and groans of disappointment followed them, along with muttered oaths about know-it-alls and stupid spoiled rich kids. Hermione disentangled herself from the center of the pack with barely retrained glee while Draco, unfolding himself from the window where he had been seated, remained unreadable.

As they reached for their letters, she spoke again. "Please, tell us all who your respective professors will be? I'm sure your classmates are dying to know."

Hermione ripped into her letter, reading it over quickly. "Bill Weasley! Oh, I must tell Ron! He's going to be so excited that I'll be with his brother." Joy was written all over the young witch's face. Draco was silent, his brows furrowed in unhappiness.

When he still didn't say anything after a long moment, the girl reached over to grab his letter. He allowed her to snatch it from his hand, a smirk blooming as she read.

"Looks like we're partners; your boyfriend going to be 'excited' about that?"

Bathsheda clapped her hands for attention, before Hermione could release the scathing comment that was no doubt coming. "Now then, I know we are all excited for the pair, but they need to return to their dormitories to pack and you all need to turn to page 276. We're starting on Logograms today!"

As the two turned to leave, she saw Hermione stick her tongue out in the direction of Draco's back. It lacked any real animosity though; the girl was still wearing a giddy smile and clutching her letter tightly to her chest.

It was a beginning.


	2. In Which a Deal is Made

Hours

Hermione must have read over her letter at least six times already as she sat at the station, waiting for the Hogwarts Express. Her excitement was almost infectious, and Draco was having none of it.

"Don't you have anything else to read? You haven't put the bloody thing down since Ms. Babbling handed it to you."

Brown eyes looked up at him, one delicate eyebrow cocked as she took him in. He was leaning against the wall to the left of her seat, his luggage stacked neatly beside her own. "Don't you have anything to read at all? Its not polite to stare."

He merely shrugged, turning again to watch for the train where it would come into sight around the bend. He was the image of relaxed, reclining against the wall with ankles and arms crossed, shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and wand sticking up out of his back pocket.

They fell into silence for what felt like hours before train rumbled into the station. They grabbed their things and lugged them on board to their designated compartment. There were other groups of people on the train, off to internships, meetings at the Ministry, and various other places.

As they moved to claim their respective sides, Hermione pulled everything up onto her seat, pointedly ignoring him and what he was doing. He caught her attention again only when he turned to her side of the compartment and started grabbing at her bags.

"What do you think you're doing? Leave my things alone," she snapped, panicking briefly.

He ignored her and reached up to place everything into the overhead compartments, leaving their seats uncluttered, before moving to sit on the opposite seat against the window.

"How about we make a deal?"

He watched as she quirked that eyebrow again. "And why would I want to have anything to do with you, let alone make any sort of agreement?" she asked archly, arms crossing.

He leaned forward, bracing his forearms against his knees and twirling his wand though his fingers absentmindedly. "I'm proposing a truce."

As he waited for Hermione's reaction, the only sounds were that of the train rumbling rhythmically down the track and the to and fro of faded conversation from somewhere further down. Finally, she gave a slow, single nod, eyes narrowed on his face. "I'm listening."

He smirked at that, though warily; he'd caught her attention. "Look, I know we've been at each others throats since the day we met - " She gave a rather unladylike snort, and he continued through it. " - But we're partners, whether we want to be or not. So I'm proposing we work together. I won't call you a mudblood, you won't call me a ferret, and we'll help each other. That way, we both pass and this apprenticeship isn't torture for the both of us."

Her eyes narrowed again at his use of the word 'mudblood' but she didn't comment. "You just want an 'In' with Bill since I'm pretty much family."

He shrugged at her again. "If that's what you want to think, go right ahead."

She regarded him carefully for a moment. "I still think you're a wanker," she grudgingly relented.

The smirk curled into an actual smile. "And I still think you're a know-it-all chit."

She extended her hand to him brazenly, and he reached forward with his own to shake it firmly in return.

"Then we're in agreement." She pulled away, leaning back to stare at the scenery flashing by out her window. But after a beat, her curiosity defeated her and she glanced his way. He regarded her carefully in return.

"Something on your mind, Granger?"

"Where... If you don't mind my asking that is... Where were you? Last year, during the war."

His voice was soft when he answered, almost sad, and his gaze turned toward the window. "Finding myself."


	3. In Which Draco is Horrified

Red

Having Draco with her was a surprising comfort as they traversed the labyrinthine hallways of the Ministry of Magic, having to stop and talk to the woman in charge of International Floo, before getting to the Ministry's branch in Cairo, where they then had to check in with her equivalent there.

Sure, they hadn't talked for the remainder of the train ride, nor the walk to Diagon Alley, but it was a companionable silence. One not marred by animosity for the first time she could recall during their acquaintance.

As they stepped out of the Ministry and into downtown Cairo, Hermione could only stare in wonder for a moment, gaping at the view of the skyline. Old buildings intermingled with the new, and massive pyramids dominated the background with shades of red gold in the early morning light.

There was a car already waiting for them. It was little more than a dune buggy, but Draco had already approached and put his bags in, which she didn't notice until he'd come back for her's.

He pried her fingers from the handles, then nudged her with a shoulder to move forward. "So a skyline renders you speechless," he murmured to her as she finally passed him. She stopped to look at him curiously, watching as he secured her bags on the back.

"I'm glad I've finally discovered something that can," he continued with a teasing lilt to his tone. It was friendly, almost playful, and pulled a startled laugh at out her.

He shocked her again when he came around her side and opened her door for her. At her questioning expression, he shrugged, watching her climb in. "My mother did teach me manners." And at that he closed her door, before rushing around to his own side, jumping in with exuberance. It was the first time she realized he was just as excited about this as she was.

Smiling, she turned to him. "Manners, huh? Well you could have fooled me." There was laughter in her voice, a pleasantness he found himself enjoying.

She saw him tense for a moment, before realizing that she was teasing him in return. "I'm in Slytherin remember? Did you really expect me to walk all the way across the great hall to pull out your chair for you?"

She hummed thoughtfully for a moment before replying. "Never saw you pull out a chair for Parkinson."

His smirk was charming, more so than she wanted to admit. "Been 'studying' up on my habits, Granger?" He crossed one knee over the other, reclining back against his door with his hands threaded behind his head, watching her.

She snorted, turning to look out her window and watch the city pass by. "That neon hair of yours could be spotted by the blind." She couldn't help smiling though, as she pointedly stared out her window. Who knew that she could enjoy back and forth banter with Malfoy?

She heard him chuckle softly beside her. "You're one to talk about hair."

Gasping in outrage, she turned to give him a piece of her mind, and got the air knocked out of her lungs instead. His eyes where downcast, a lock of her hair twisted through his fingers and brought up to his lips.

"What are... why in the world are you being this nice?" she asked suspiciously.

If her question phased him at all, he didn't show it. "There isn't a house table preventing me here, now is there, Granger? Besides, I thought our agreement was that we would play nice?"

At that admission, the backseat was suddenly tense.

He offered a smile, and she tentatively returned it, allowing it to end there for the day. It was already the longest conversation they'd ever had in the 7 years they had known each other.

He let the lock of hair slip from his fingers and moved that hand to rest on the back of the seat, turning his head slightly to watch the scenery pass.

The silence returned between them, and she treasured the unguarded moment. Being able to relax in Malfoy's presence was something she could safely say she hadn't ever experienced before today. He didn't feel the need to clutter everything up with words, only offering them at precise moments, but otherwise letting the quiet reign.

She allowed herself to peek at him, watching his profile as he watched the people out the window. His bangs partly obscuring a gray blue eye, and his jaw lax as he lost himself to his thoughts.

Soon, pavement turned to sand, and his fingers brushed her shoulder every time the car jostled too hard. The count was up to 32 times that his slim fingers came into contact with her bared skin when they had pulled to a stop.

32 touches. That was 31 more times than she had touched him in 7 years, in a single day. Not counting when she had punched him in the nose.

She scrambled out of the car the moment the wheels stopped moving, and Draco was fighting the urge to laugh at her; she looked like a frightened little rabbit trying to get away from a pursuing fox.

Draco emerged after her, enjoying the feeling of sand giving way under his trainers. He took the lead and moved to grab their bags from the trunk. He stacked them beside the car while she looked around with gasps of joy and awe.

She was truly amusing.

"Granger." His voice behind her caught her attention, and she turned to find him bent over and reaching inside to grab their remaining bags. "You going to get any of this?"

"Oh. Oh. Sorry." She felt guilty about having forgotten and leaving him to deal with both their things. Which was appallingly rude, given that a week ago when they had received their acceptance letters, they hadn't even said 5 words to each other in their entire history. 5 words that didn't involve derogatory comments or hexes, that is.

That was when their driver stepped out. Truthfully neither had remembered she was there.

The older woman was moving around to where they where standing, placing age spotted hands on her hips. "What a charming young man you have here." At that Hermione gaped and moved quickly to grab her bags up off the sand. What the woman had to say next nearly made her choke.

"Now if I was twenty years younger..." She just trailed off with a saucy wink that left Draco ashen and scrambling up after Hermione, placing a hand to her lower back to speed her along.

The woman's laughter chased them up the hill toward the entrance to the pyramid, and Draco kept glancing back at her, to assure himself she wasn't following.

Finally, Hermione laughed as Draco called out over his shoulder. "Maybe if you where forty years younger."

Not allowing time for the older woman to react, Draco made the best escape he could, pushing Hermione along with him.


	4. In Which Draco is Plagued by Purple

Purple

Malfoy was confusing, Hermione decided, as she allowed him to lead her along with his hand pressed against the small of her back.

She couldn't seem to wrap her head around the fact that off school grounds, he could actually act like a decent human being. A decent, charming, human being. It confused and intrigued her. Sure, they had made a deal, but that didn't explain the immediate 180 his personality took the moment they shook hands. It was like he turned into an entirely different person in the blink of an eye.

The nagging worry in the back of her mind about his motives was quickly shoved away though; if this was how he decided to honor their agreement, who was she to tell him that it left her startled and not sure what to think? At least it was better than childish name calling and hexes being thrown right and left.

She promptly lost her train of thought when they turned a corner see to the image of Bill Weasley; he standing before a group of people that looked about their age, who were seated around him in a semi-circle, their bags littering the spaces in between.

"Bill!" she waved at him, grabbing his attention, and he came forward to give her a tight hug.

"Right on time!" His smile was bright as he turned to shake Draco's hand firmly. "Everyone, This is Hermione and Draco; they're the two that where chosen from Hogwarts this year, both from England." He then gestured to the room. "Guys, meet your bunk mates."

Voices cropped up from all over the room.

"Evgeni, Bulgaria."

"Xue, China."

"Caroline, Norway."

"Benoit, France."

"Sipho, South Africa."

"Katie, Hawaii."

Hermione greeted them all with a smile and a wave and she and Draco sat down on the slightly sandy stone floor to allow Bill to begin his lecture. "Alright, now that we all know each other; its time to go over some ground rules." he started pacing in front of them, going in to what they recognized as a classic lecture mode. "Curse breaking is sort of like what archeology is for muggles. Only more dangerous. The pyramids are old magical places where most of your magic is not going to work, and frankly, not allowed. There are so many hidden curses, hexes, and jinxes in these old places that its too much of a risk to try using your wands. Which means I hope you brought some tough clothes; you're going to be doing a lot of manual work."

After his introduction, Bill went into the ground rules, mostly they were common since things: Don't go exploring without your partner, remember to wear your hard hat, watch out for muggle traps; Just because they could use magic didn't mean taking a fall into pitch black pit didn't hurt.

That Draco mostly tuned out - it's hard to focus when you're being tortured after all.

It wasn't even some sort of manly torture, like visiting Azkaban or having to babysit a small child. It was the color Purple. It was stalking him.

From the moment he had spotted her ridiculously bright purple shoelaces on the train, the color had been plaguing him. Suddenly everything was purple. The secretary of International Floo's fingernail polish. The car that picked them up. The sky. Professor Weasley's coat. The backpack she was leaning against.

It was driving him to distraction, and he almost missed when the professor started calling out the partners. "Draco and Hermione, of course." He smiled in their direction as he said this, but it was lost on Hermione. Draco wanted to glare at him. "Then Evgeni and Xue; Bulgaria and China could do with a bit of camaraderie after that little fight at the Quidditch Cup. Caroline and Benoit are up next. And that leaves Sipho and Katie. Now then, if you guys would follow me, I'll take you to the bunk house so you can put your things away."

And at that, the small group climbed to their feet to gather their things and follow him out into the sunshine. He talked as they walked.

"Now, our camp is going to be steadily moving further and further into the desert as your apprenticeship progresses. We are only going to be spending two weeks here, as this is a 'training' site. After this you'll be working in actual digs with me and my team. Welcome to your crash course in Curse-Breaking." He then opened the flap of a small tent and ushered them inside. "This is your Bunk house. The Cafeteria is two tents over to the left, and the infirmary is one past that. The back room is where the bunks are, girls bathroom is to the left, boys to the right. Now I'll leave you guys to get settled. I'll be back at lunch to introduce you to the rest of the team."

He was gone a moment later, leaving the 8 teens to just stare at each wondering what to do next. There was silence, before the small Asian girl, the one he distinctly remember calling her name to be 'Xue', let out a 'Whoop' and 'Last one in gets the shit bed.'

A second later the tent exploded in the sound of laughter and hurried footsteps as they jostled to get though the door way and throw their things on a bed.

It was exhilarating, and strangely reminiscent of his first day at Hogwarts, Draco decided as he looked over at the next bed where Hermione had flung herself, her bags all but forgotten in her haste to claim it; they laid haphazardly across the floor beside her.

Without thinking about it, he jumped up from his bed to grab her bags and put them in a neat row at the foot of hers, just as he had done with his own. But when he turned to sit back down, he froze, swore, looked at her, and swore again. Apparently the universe wanted to spite him.

"What is it?" she looked at him curiously, damn purple laced shoes waving back and forth in the air as if taunting him.

He looked from her to the bedspread and back again, as if willing her to understand. "Its purple."


	5. In Which Hermione Learns of CCT

Friends

She was watching him. Her eyes trained on him as he sat on the floor, stacking his books in separate piles before turning to the bookcase that sat squarely between their beds and placing each stack strategically upon the shelves.

He met her eyes for a moment, smiling slightly, before his eyebrow twitched. "I think you've taken an unexpected leap into bibliophilia when you actually start sleeping with your books." And with that he started snatching up the ones that littered her bed and placing them accordingly on the shelf.

"And you've taken a wrong turn into an obsessive compulsive disorder when you start... alphabetizing? Are those books alphabetized?" she asked in wonder before swinging her legs over to get a closer look.

"By the first letter of the authors last name, and then by publishing date," he defended, as he filed away her remaining books, intermingling them unidentifiably with his own.

"These books are alphabetized," she stated, a bright smile creeping up her face. He knew the others where watching them, curiosity evident, from the other side of the room. After all, everyone did assume they already knew each other, why wouldn't she know about his odder tendencies?

His eyes darted to their new bunk mates, who where looking at them with like they where the night's entertainment, and he hoped his expression conveyed 'stay the bloody hell out of this' but he wasn't sure if it worked. It was a toss up between either that or 'I know I'm acting like an idiot but I'm crazy in love with this girl and she has no idea'. Or it could, you know, look like he was making funny faces.

Really, any of them where plausible at this point.

"I caught the emphasize, now why's it important?"

"Who would have thought you would be a neat freak, Malfoy?"

"And who would have thought you would be a slob, Granger," he retorted with little venom, eyeing her trainers, which had been flung off in her haste to fully appreciate her new bed. One was laying upside down atop her suitcase, the other half obscured under her bed.

Really, he wouldn't have cared overly much, if not for the fact that they revealed her mismatched socks of red and blue with purple polka-dots.

There was that color again. Really, it was starting to turn up all over the place. Where next? Her knickers?

"A little mess is good for the soul," she answered blithely, waving him off as she inspected the books.

He allowed her to inspect them, turning rather to grab her dirty trainers and place them together properly under the edge of her bed.

"Everyone could use a little controlled chaos; mess is just... mess-ish."

She turned slightly, resting a hip against the wood of the bookcase and inclined a brow at him again. She seemed rather fond of doing that actually. "Alright, I'll bite. Explain that one."

"Controlled chaos is... dressing immaculately but wearing mismatched socks." He pointed down at her feet, and she wiggled her toes at him. "Its reorganizing your bookcase every other week by third letter of the author's middle name, then second letter of the city in which it was published."

All she did was blink at him, mouth agape, and look from him to the bookcase and back again. He head a male voice choke somewhere in the background, so he raised his voice for the next part.

"It's then reorganizing it in other cruel and inventive ways once someone figures out your system."

"That's diabolical - brilliant, but diabolical."

"Controlled chaos is taking pleasure from small things, sort of like a quiet rebellion against normal," he added.

She looked at him curiously, head cocked to the side in interest. "Is that all? Just a way to prevent perfection?"

"You're missing the point. Controlled Chaos prevents chaos on a grander scale. If you don't wear mismatching socks or rebel in some fashion, it means something bigger or worse will happen. Small, controlled chaos prevents grander forms from building up and exploding into something from the pits of the Weasley Wizarding Wheezes shop."

"You've thought about this quite a bit," she stated, mildly impressed.

He inclined his head toward her in a gentle nod, his voice serious. "I live my life by it." He then unbuttoned his pristine black vest, letting it hang open, and revealing bright red fabric, with little golden snitches zooming across its surface. "My rebellion of the day." he explained, smiling.

Hermione moved forward, as if to touch the fabric with tentative fingers, and he beckoned her forward with a barely restrained enthusiasm.

She ran fingertips over the silky fabric, the warmth of it made her laugh. "You make an interesting friend, Malfoy."

Ouch. Friend corner. Well, it was an improvement... for now. A friend was better than an acquaintance, and an acquaintance was better than an arch-nemesis.

He could work with a 'friend'.


	6. In Which Hermione Discovers Mercenaries

Teammates

The first day concluded easily enough, and the days after that. They were mostly prep days, really just tests to see which of them needed to be handled with kid gloves and for how long. Going over rules and practicing which spells and counter curses that where most often needed. Extensive tours and lectures on the pyramids and all sort of useless crap that they already knew.

Well, that and filling out lots of paperwork saying that Gringotts wasn't liable if they had to be rushed to St. Mungos.

Which sort of undermined the fact they had been hand selected for this apprenticeship in the first place.

But Hermione wasn't complaining; frankly, she was in heaven, sitting in the dark on the sandy floor of a pyramid, a large tome in her lap and only her teammate's wand for light as he rattled off the various symbols for her to look up.

This was the first time they had actually been allowed to work without 20 people hovering over them giving directions. It was a relief actually. Draco wasn't the type to chatter long. Though she had discovered that when he did open his mouth, strangeness ensued. Usually something utterly fascinating or just plain silly, but always methodically thought out.

Right now he was completely focused, shaggy blond hair tied back in a rather useless rat-tail at the nape of his neck, bangs still falling in his eyes, and hands pressed near reverently against the stone wall, fingers tracing the symbols as he translated the script in his head.

"This is another inscription about the history of the pharaoh. More on his rulings mostly. But its nothing that seems overly important."

She nodded and made note of it. "Sounds like a pretty boring guy. I wonder what sort of mischief he really got into."

She felt his eyes level on her in the dark, thinking, and she considered trying to pat her hair back into place, but all that would do would make her feel stupid and get sand in her curls.

"You got into a fair bit of it yourself, Granger." His long fingers where dancing over the wall again.

"Oh and you didn't?" she asked idly.

"Now I never said that. My exploits where just never the talk of the school. It's this strange new concept called subtlety,"he murmured, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth as he looked at her from the corner of his eye. There was a smudge of dirt on the bridge of his nose, and she fought the urge to rub it away. There was something rather appealing about 'not a hair out of place' Malfoy sweaty and covered in dirt.

She pointedly looked down at the tome on her lap as she spoke, and pushed an unruly curl behind her ear. "Well, its not as if it was my goal to get in trouble; I had to help Harry."

"You can't say you didn't enjoy it, the thrill of the forbidden. Helping your precious Harry was just a perk." There was laughter in his voice. Suddenly, she had his full attention and wasn't sure what to do with it.

"There weren't a lot of others willing and he couldn't have done it alone."She glanced up at him momentarily and found him to be balancing on the balls of his feet, facing her instead of the wall. It was mildly disconcerting to have his eyes trained on her. "I'm actually rather surprised that your fellow Slytherins didn't try to assassinate him."

"Oh, it wouldn't have been a Slytherin. Don't you know we use Hufflepuffs for all of our dirty work?" he teased.

She blinked up at him, tucking the stand back again when it slipped out from behind her ear. It was an absurd thing to say, but she couldn't help but be absurdly curious in turn. "I don't think I've heard about that conspiracy; tell me more."

He rocked forward so that his knees touched the floor, a broad smile across his face at her blase acceptance of his statement. "Slytherins don't condone violence, per say, but we are more than willing to pay someone else to commit said acts of violence on our behalf. Hufflepuffs were perfect for this because they are so fluffy and innocent. Who would suspect a Hufflepuff?"

"What? So there are little Hufflepuff mercenaries out there?"

He nodded solemnly. "They train them from a young age to be cold and ruthless killers underneath that adorable appearance."

She pressed a hand to her mouth to stifle her giggles, her chest heaving with surprised laughter, and he looked utterly pleased with himself.

The movement caused her stray stands of hair to fall forward again though, but before she could straighten them, he spoke. "Allow me?"

The laughter suddenly died in her throat, and after a moments hesitation, she nodded mutely at him.

He flashed her a reassuring smile and moved to kneel behind her, gently pulling out the tie and after a moments hesitation handing the bright purple band to her.

He ran his fingers though the strands for a moment, lifting and separating, massaging her scalp, before teasing the strands into the desired position. It was heavenly having his strong fingers working though her curls.

"Tie?" he extended his hand over her shoulder, and she dropped the band into it. "Thank you."

After securing them in a tight loop against the back of her neck, he was still behind her for a moment, and she froze, not knowing what to do.

But before she could make any decision, he moved again, coming to kneel where he was before in front of the inscription. Instead of tracing the symbols though, his fingers moved restlessly against jean clad thighs.

"Thanks, Malfoy."

"My pleasure."


	7. In Which Draco is Driving

Sunrise

Bill Weasley was waiting for them when the apprentices staggered into the cafeteria for breakfast. Days at site started before the sun rose and ended after it set so they were still mostly asleep, most not even paying attention to what was placed in front of them.

"Today you guys are going to be working various jobs around the site. Since, as Curse Breakers, we don't have house elves or easy access to many magical establishments we have to do the work ourselves. Draco, Hermione, and Xue are to go pick up supplies for the site; you three have the most experience with muggles. And you're taking the dune buggy; magic in muggle Cairo is expressly forbidden, Apparating especially. Evgeni, Caroline, you two have the best potions skills, so your to help restock the infirmary. Meet up with Mr. Williams after breakfast and he'll tell you what he's needing, you're then to get with the team going into the city and give them the list of the ingredients you need. Benoit, Katie, Sipho, you're helping reinforce the wards and notice-me-not charms."

It wasn't long after that, that breakfast was consumed and everyone headed out to their respective assignments. Xue stayed in the cafeteria to retrieve the list of supplies they needed, and Hermione accompanied Evgeni and Caroline to find out what ingredients where required for the potions. Draco, on the other hand, trudged out to the dune buggy, wand illuminating his surroundings as he checked the oil and the gas.

When the girls finally made their way out, they found Draco with his wand between his teeth bent over the engine, dipstick and rag in hand, a can of gas at his side. The sleeves of his white shirt where rolled up to his elbows and it mostly unbuttoned, only half tucked into a pair of ragged blue jeans that had numerous stains of unknown origin, but mainly looked like they where car related. His hair was pulled back into the useless rat tail he seemed to favor, but the look suited him.

The sight made Hermione pause, blinking. Was she really seeing what she thought she was? Malfoy playing mechanic? One second he's a pure blood prince who spent the last 6 years calling her a mud blood and hexing her, and the next he's some charming mechanic who rolls around in the sand, plays with her hair, and wears mismatched socks? Who was he and what did he do with the spoiled brat she went to school with?

"Your partner is a total hunk; how often do you find a wizard that knows anything about muggles; total upside. Being a half blood and all I can't bring home a guy who doesn't know what a rice-cooker is or how to use it."

Hermione sputtered for a moment. "Malfoy is not a hunk. And I know what you're implying but he is certainly not mine."

Xue looked at her curiously and raised her hands in surrender. "Whatever you say."

The exchange was still weighing heavily in Hermione's mind when they approached him. He flashed a brilliant smile at her when he turned around from loading the can back in the trunk and saw her standing there with the exuberant Asian girl chattering beside her.

He gave an exaggerated bow, gesturing to the door of the dune buggy. "Your carriage awaits, madams."

Xue giggled and flung herself into the backseat with relish, hoping to dose off for a while longer, as Hermione gave a reluctant smile, slipping into the passengers seat. "Cheeky."

"I try, I try." he replied with false modesty. He then jumped into the drivers seat and strapped himself in. "You girls might want to buckle up, I'm a bit of an aggressive driver."

"Aggressive?" Xue asked unbelieving from the backseat. She was peering up at them, sprawled across the cracked leather on her back.

"Where did you even learn to drive?" Hermione looked at him curiously, tentatively buckling herself in.

"Greece, actually. Drive like maniacs over there, almost got run over twice." He stated conversationally, turning the beast on and putting it into gear.

Then they where off.

Hermione was decidedly uncomfortable about them catching air in the small vehicle, even though Xue and Malfoy where cackling like children every time they shot up into the air, landing again moments later with a cloud of sand flying up around them. And she was decidedly frazzled, and awake, by the time they finally hit pavement. That lingering fuzzy feeling of too little sleep which normally accompanied her mornings was nowhere to be seen as she clung tightly to the guard rails the vehicle was made of.

Once they where in the city though, Draco's driving vastly improved. He was the picture of calm as he weaved through the busy streets with the practiced ease of someone who had spent vast amounts of time on the road. He pulled up against the sidewalk in front of a small grocery, into a spot that by all rights should have been far too small for anything bigger than a motorcycle, but he made it work.

It was the second time in his company that Hermione found herself scrambling out of the vehicle, watching him with wary eyes as his lips twitched with barely constrained laughter. "You drive like you fly, you know that?"

"Wild, I know. It applies to all aspects of my life." He then shameless winked at her, and an elderly couple passing behind her on the sidewalk giggled at the exchange. Her cheeks heated.

"Cheeky little bugger." She muttered as he climbed out of the seat, Xue right behind him laughing delightedly at the pair.

He stuck a hand in his pocket as he moved to hold the door open for them, and Xue grabbed a basket. "I'll get fruits and vegetables, you guys get meats and we'll meet in the middle."

Draco saluted her flippantly and grabbed a basket for himself and Hermione, leading her though the store as if he shopped the muggle way every day. Browsing the lanes and occasionally checking the list, or sending her forward to search out 'stew meat' or 'spaghetti sauce'.

It was a surreal experience to say the least. Shopping with Malfoy? Joking with him, if not a bit warily. Lounging around the commons with him and the others after dinner? It was almost like someone had flipped the script on her life.

On everyone's life. Her Malfoy and the Malfoy from before the war where two completely different people and she wasn't sure how to reconcile the two. Her Malfoy, Bill claimed was just as knowledgeable about muggles as she, a muggle born, and Xue, a half blood were. Her Malfoy knew how to drive, and apparently went shopping at the grocery, and wore clothes that didn't cost more than her parents made in a month.

He was not the Malfoy she grew up with.

Something during that year that he disappeared was the deciding factor in that change. And she wished she knew what it was. Maybe then she wouldn't fumble though their interactions; not sure which version of him she was talking too.

With Malfoy sending her off to get stuff from the list while he zoomed through the isles himself, they found themselves that the checkout fairly quickly.

Xue met them in front of the cashier, and handed Draco a wad of cash. "You're better with the conversions than me."

He merely nodded and started throwing things on the belt for them to scan. "You guys go put this stuff in the car while I pay."

Out on the curb though as they where packing the thinks in the trunk, Hermione eyed the small girl curiously. "You mentioned you where a half blood, right?"

She nodded. "That's right. Mom is a pureblood, and dad was one of my grandfather business partners in the muggle world; he thought a marriage between the two, what with the unrest in the wizarding world at the time, would afford our family some security."

"But... I thought there was this stigma about muggles and muggleborns?" Hermione fingered a curl nervously, eyes shifting to Malfoy's form though the glass. He was leaning against the counter, chatting with cashier who was motioning for his coworker to give him change from the other register.

The other girl followed her gaze to where Draco was standing; watching as some of the customers flocked around him, laughing and smiling as he said something. She knew pretty quickly where this line of questioning sprung from. "You mean the whole Death Eater thing?"

"Yeah."

She hummed thoughtfully for a moment, watching as he laughed at something another customer said and pointed out to where they where seated saying something else that made all of their eyes turn toward them. "Not all purebloods where followers of the Dark Lord; most of them weren't actually. It was almost unheard of in china. But I mean, it's not like you have to worry about that."

Hermione blinked at her in confusion, dragging her eyes away from a winking Malfoy who was smirking at her. "Hm? Oh, yeah, I did help defeat the Dark Lord; I never really thought about it like that, but I guess it does give me a bit to stand on in terms of issues like that."

Xue gave her a funny look, glancing back and forth between her and Draco. "Sure, I guess you could look at it like that." She stood up and brushed of her pants. "Why don't I head on over to the apothecary and start gathering up the ingredients? You guys can catch up when he's done, but make it quick; Draco's got all our cash."

Flustered, Hermione eyed the girl once again. She wasn't sure why, but it seemed like they where having two different conversations. It was almost like they had misunderstood each other, but she wasn't sure how it was possible. It was a good idea though. Not only logically, as it would speed everything along nicely, but it gave her an opportunity to ask him the questions burning on her tongue.

"What? Oh, alright, sure." She agreed readily, trying not to seem overly eager. It wasn't as if she wasn't fond of the girl or anything.

After waving Xue off, Hermione turned to watch Draco though the glass door. Apparently the both registers had been out of change so they had to make some cash trades with another customer while everyone waited. He turned to her and mouthed 'sorry' as she fidgeted against the wheel of the car.

Shortly after that he managed to escape from the store, sprinting out to her with a winning smile. "Apparently they didn't have any change in the drawers after someone came in to break a 20."

"It's alright." She shoved herself off the side of the car, moving over to stand by him. "Xue went on ahead to the Apothecary to start gathering things up for us."

He pointed toward an alley down the way. "She went this way right?" Hermione nodded and started down the street, Draco falling into step beside her.

"So what all do we need ingredients for?" He asked idly, watching the image of their shadows stepping in sync.

She hummed thoughtfully for a moment, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. Was it her or did he seem to be in good spirits? "Blood Replenishing Potion, some Bruise and Burn-healing Paste, and Boil Cure. I think that's it anyway, Xue has the actual list."

He laughed lightly, started to whistle a tune that sounded suspiciously familiar like something from 'A Goofy Movie'. "I forgot that Katie fell into that pit and used the last of our Bruise Paste."

They fell into companionable silence after that, walking next to each other down the crowded Cairo streets. Occasionally stepping closer to avoid other passerby's, but always moving an acceptable distance away, not wanting to test the tentative friendship.

"Hey Malfoy?" She asked after a long moment while they were waiting at a crosswalk.

He paused in his whistling to give her his full attention. "Something on your mind Granger?"

Steeling her nerves, she finally asked the question she'd been itching to. "What were you doing in Greece where you had to learn to drive muggle cars?"

"Ah ah ah. Nosy Granger." He turned slightly to tap her on the nose, before offering his arm to escort her across the street. She accepted it hesitantly and allowed him to lead her though traffic. "That's not a story I'm willing to tell yet, and one you're not ready to hear. Let's save it for a more appropriate time."

"Oh really? And when would be a more appropriate time to tell me?" She asked, feeling irrationally annoyed with his avoidance of the question.

He stopped in the middle of the street to face her, making the crowd move around them. "I promise I'll tell you, the entire story one day."

"What should I expect on that day then, since obviously it's going to be a memorable one." Hermione shot back, scathingly sarcastic.

"I suspect we'll be stuck in one of the pyramids of an undetermined amount of time. Why? I'm not sure yet, but it seems the most plausible." He answered lightly, an amused smirk lighting up his face as he tugged her back into motion.

"I'll hold you to that then. We ever get stuck together, you have to give me everything."

His smirk grew into a full blown grin at that, making him look devilishly charming. "And would you like my heart included along with my guts while I'm spilling them?"

She eyed him then. "You, Draco Malfoy, are a contradiction."

"I do try." He replied with false modesty, resuming his whistling of what was really sounding like Disney songs.


	8. In Which CSAMADSAS

Smell; In Which Crabbe's Socks Are Mentioned and Disney Songs Are Sung

After spending the evening shopping in muggle Cairo, Hermione and Benoit -the Frenchmen was only other member of the group besides Malfoy who happened to have as eminence a love of books as she- entered the cafeteria to join the other apprentices for diner.

And she immediately noticed someone missing. "Hey guys, doesn't Draco know its time for dinner?" She asked while slapping a large portion of spaghetti onto her plate.

It was Sipho who answered her, his English was heavily accented and occasionally hard to understand, but his meaning was clear enough. "Last time I saw him he was reorganizing your bookshelf Miss Hermyony."

It bugged her sometimes, the way everyone had started referring to things at 'theirs' instead of hers or his. No one ever refereed to Caroline and Benoit like they where a set, even though they where partners.

Looking around at everyone else, Hermione focused on the only empty plate on the table. "Xue, you're done with your food, go tell him his dinners going to get cold."

She small girl snorted in reply, reaching over Sipho's plate to steal a noodle. "He listens to you more than anyone else, you fetch him."

"But I'm hungry!"

"You're the one that wants him told."

Hermione groaned and pushed herself to her feet, snagging another bite of her noodles for the road while the other occupants of the table snickered at her. "Some friends you are."

She then trudged back out into the dark to make her way back to the bunkhouse.

"Hey Malfoy!" She called as she stepped inside. "It's dinner ti-"

Hermione was brought up short by the image before her. "Shooby do! dobby da doppy do! dobby da da do dah! Do bop she do!" It was Malfoy, singing and twisting is way around the room as he straightened items and threw dirty clothes that had been left out in hampers.

"Are... Are you singing 'Trashing the camp' while you clean?"

He turned toward her, mildly startled when she spoke, a wide smile blooming on his face. "I do believe it perfectly expresses my feelings toward the cleanliness of our housemates. I'm imaging myself breaking things while I put them away." He then made his way over to her.

It took her mind a minute to catch up with what she was seeing, and the first question that came to her mind just sort of popped out. "How in the world do you know Disney songs?" Considering what she was seeing, it was hardly the most important thing she could have asked. It was somewhere down on the list with 'Why do you persist in baffling me, you contradiction of a man?' and 'Why are you singing?'

"I spent a bit of time in America and my boss was obsessed with the stuff; played it over the loudspeaker for the diners all day."

That made her blink. "What?" She asked weakly. "Boss? Diners? America?"

He shrugged. "Story for another day remember? Anyway, dance with me, it'll be fun." He swung her up into his arms, parading her in circles around the room while he returned to is off key warbling of Tarzan.

She squeaked in protest, but quickly found herself trying to contain her laughter while she sung along, they tripped over tables and bumped into other furniture in their impromptu dance. He would spell books across the room or a pair of boots next to the proper bed while he twisted her in circles and around the fireplace, dipping her low to grab a chocolate frog wrapper from the floor, or spinning her around to hang a coat up on the rack.

His obvious experience made up for her two left feet, even though their dance floor was riddled with obstacles that all seemed to be the perfect height to catch them on the hip or the shin, and seemed to delight in tripping them up every other step. Turning what would have been graceful arches into a stumbled shuffling of feet.

And at another exclamation of 'Do bop she do!' He spun and dipped her again, nearly dropping her when the sound of muffled laughter from the doorway reached his ears.

Elegantly sweeping her back onto her feet, he turned toward the doorway and glared at the person inhabiting it.

"What in the world are you guys doing? Your foods getting cold." The bulky form of Evgeni was standing in the doorway, surveying what he perceived to be damage to the room.

"Sweeping a lady off her feet. What does it look like?" He asked arrogantly, releasing the small woman from his arms who looked like she was trying rather hard not to laugh at his explanation. Well that stung his pride a bit. Oh well, he'd win her over eventually.

"It looks like your trying to destroy our commons."

Draco surreptitiously glanced around the room; it did look a little worse for wear, but completely worth it to see the that flushed, delighted look on her face."Well that is the point of the song. And sorry Evgeni, but your socks stink worse than Crabbe's. I threw out the ones I found stuffed in the couch cushions."

The Bulgarian just shook his head and laughed, waving them forward. "Come on and get some dinner. Bill made spaghetti tonight."

Even the mention of Bill's almost inedible cooking couldn't dampen his spirits as he gestured for Hermione to go before him.

As she passed he fell into step beside her, placing his hand on the small of her back to guide her in the dark, whispering the lyrics to another Disney song to her. "Bless my soul, Herc was on a roll. Undefeated. Riding high, And the nicest guy. Not conceited. Is he bold? No one braver. Is he sweet? Our favorite flavor."

Hermione snorted in laughter. "While your on your Narcissistic streak, your more of a Prince Ali than a Heracles."

His smug smirk curled into an outright grin. "Good to know you think I'm a prince." He moved to walk backwards in front of her, resuming his off key butchering of a Disney hit, flexing and generally being over-dramatic as he did. "Prince Ali! Handsome is he, Ali Ababwa! That physique! How can I speak, Weak at the knee. Well, get on out in that square, Adjust your vein and prepare, To gawk and grovel and stare at Prince Ali!"

She laughed and swatted at him. "Merlin how did you ever manage to hide this Disney obsession of your for so long?"

"Talent my dear. Pure talent."

Hermione was laughing and Draco wearing a smug smirk as they entered the cafeteria; the idea of her boyfriend waiting back home at Hogwarts the last thing on her mind.


	9. In Which Real Life Makes an Appearance

Shapes

Lounging around the commons in various states of dishevelment became a measure of normal in Hermione's world. Reading with her head hanging off the arm of a perpetually sandy couch and her feet resting in Draco's lap, his own book balanced on her toes.

It was comfortable. It was relaxing. It was normal. And if two weeks ago had someone presented her with the idea of being comfortable sprawled out in various states of undress with Malfoy, as if he were Harry or Ron, she would have wondered as to their sanity. Malfoy and comfortable were two words that didn't exactly mix. Not as far as she had been concerned. Not as far as any Gryffindor had been concerned. Malfoy's were renown for being world class prats.

Yet here she was, curled up like a contented cat, her bared feet resting over one delicately muscled thigh, his fingers occasionally brushing the skin of her toes in a teasing fashion when he would turn a page.

And he was just as comfortable with her presence as she was with his, leaning slightly against the opposite arm in a pair of light cotton sleep pants with little purple cartoon dragons blowing fire across his legs, a relaxed smile on his face as he read.

They sat like this most evenings, the other apprentices scattered aimlessly around. Some napping, others practicing spells, maybe playing a game of Exploding Snap or two. It was one of the few times -besides meals- they ever really got to spend any amount of time with someone besides their partner. Usually this time was spent in some state of exhaustion.

It was during these times that the temporary Floo system was connected so they could call home. And on the occasional unfortunate night, like tonight, they were received before someone could step forward and screen them for their weary housemates.

"Hermione? Hermione! What in the world is going on over there?" Ron's panicked voice crackled out of the flames and everyone froze. The giggle Malfoy had provoked by tickling bare toes died on her lips. And in a joint moment of realization, all expression drained from her normally exuberant housemates face.

She turned slowly to face the fireplace, Draco releasing her foot casually. "Ron! What are you doing calling this late?"

"Late? Hermione is nine bloody fifteen. This is the first time I could get connected in days; and I pop into see you snuggled up with him of all people? What in Merlin's name has gotten into you? Have you forgotten he's the greasy git who hexed your teeth?"

She jumped to her feet, stomping toward the fireplace to look down at him, hands on her hips. "Ronald Weasley! You stop that right this instance. I'm not going to fight with you right now."

"Fine." the voice hissed. "I'm worried about you, Herms. No one's heard from you! And anytime anyone get a letter, not only is it one letter addressed to everyone, all you can talk about is work! Yet you never mentioned working with Malfoy."

The other apprentices rolled to their feet, muttering about various things they forgot to do in anyplace but the bunkhouse. "I didn't think it was important! We're partners! Of course we're going to be spending a lot of time together," she reasoned. "And I work long hours here Ron, from before sun up till after sun down; I'm tired. I don't have time to write a letter to everyone let alone think of anything to write to them about."

"You don't do anything besides work! It's not healthy!" He argued.

"I enjoy my work." If Hermione wanted to be truthful, as guilty as it made her feel, she had been enjoying herself too much; her work, playing with Draco, goofing off with the other apprentices. She hadn't written them letters because she hadn't thought about them. She hadn't had time to wonder how they where doing.

She could see the skepticism in the shape of his face, even though the distortion of the embers. "I don't see how you could enjoy doing anything with Ferret Face."

She flipped her ponytail back over her shoulder in agitation, pointing toward the him in a stern manner. "Ronald! I'll have you know Draco's been very kind to me these past weeks. He's not done anything but act like a total gentleman."

"Draco? You're calling him Draco now?" Ron looked as incredulous as he sounded, looking her up and down in disbelief before focusing on her toes. "And what the bloody hell is that on your feet?"

Her eyes quickly shot down to her feet before snapping back up to him. Apparently Draco has been more than just tracing random patterns on her feet. "Ruins."

"I can see that; what do they mean?"

"I hardly think that matters right now Ronald." She answered evasively, shifting her weight uncomfortably.

Ron was growing more and more agitated by the moment, and had he not been in her floo, she would have bet galleons that his arms where flailing around in outrage. "I say it does. He drew them there didn't he? I saw him playing with your feet! How can you be letting him touch you at all?"

"He didn't mean anything by it Ron." She defended. It didn't matter if it sounded like a lame excuse, it was the truth. And he could very well just go bugger off if he didn't believe it. "We where just goofing off."

Ron was quiet for a minute, staring at her feet, before she saw the realization enter his eyes. "That's his name isn't it? You let him write his name on you!"

"Ronald you're over reacting."

"The hell I am! You're my girl Hermione, and I'm not comfortable with you being thousands of miles away with him where I can't keep an eye on you."

Hermione crossed her arms over her chest indignantly and she didn't even bother to try to squelch the scathing words that came spewing out. "Keep an eye on me? What do you think I am Ronald? Your property? You need to put this childish school rivalry to rest; I'm tired of hearing of it. Draco's not said a single foul word about you or Harry the entire time we've been here. And I can be friends with whomever I choose to, whether or not you approve of them. I'm not a school desk Ronald, and I don't have your name written on me."

"I see his."

"Bloody hell Ronald I'm not having this argument with you! Grow up and don't call me again until your prepared to be civil. To me and everyone I choose to spend my time with." she then waved her wand to extinguish the flames, sending the room into darkness.

"I'm sorry I started a fight between you," came a quiet voice from the doorway. She spun to face him. "It wasn't my intention."

"I..uh."She sighed, attempting to rake a hand though her curls before realizing they where caught up in a pony tail. She growled when her fingers snagged and Draco quickly pushed himself out of the doorway to help her. "I'm sorry you had to hear all that. Ron... Ronald is Ronald. And I doubt he's ever going to be anything but what he is."

His fingers where once again moving in her hair, massaging her scalp and playing with the strands. "I wouldn't have written my name on you had I know he was going to call; I was just trying to make you laugh. I was actually going to crack a joke about having found you something new to decipher." he murmured.

She sighed when he had finished, stepping toward the door to the bedroom. "It's alright. I'm tired though, I think... I think I'm just going to go to bed."

"You know it's never good to go to bed in a bad mood." He whispered. She turned slightly to look at him. He extended is hand to her. "Let me make your night better."


	10. In Which Draco Argues With a Crab

Star

Draco stood there for an anxious moment, hand extended, waiting for her to make her decision. It sort of felt like he'd bared his soul or something, with the way she was looking at him. And he might as well have; he'd stupidly been making a lot of double edged comments lately. 'I found you something new to decipher and it happens to be me?' It was only a matter of time before she saw right though him and he just couldn't help himself.

He thought his heart was going to leap out of this throat when she finally decided, placing her own hand hesitantly in his palm and sending him a wary, but game smile.

He quietly croaked 'Accio Broom' and dashed outside with her in tow, trying to calm the nervous racing of his heart.

"Draco I'm afraid of flying." She whispered when he caught the broom in his other hand.

He turned back to face her, grinning stupidly as he leaned over to whisper in her ear in return. "Don't worry; you're safe with me."

He then swung his leg over the broom,scooting back for her to get on in front of him and pulled her back to sit tightly against him, locking an arm around her waist.

She dug her fingers into his forearm when he lightly kicked off from the ground, levitating them for a moment before taking off into the sky.

He loved the feeling of the wind on his face, and he savored it for a moment before looking down his nose at the young woman tucked into his chest.

She was frightened, but willing to let him take her wherever he pleased. It made him near giddy.

Leaning down to brush lips against her ear, he started to whisper another song to her."I can show you the world. Shining, shimmering, splendid. Tell me, princess, now when did you last let your heart decide?"

When she tensed, looking up at him questioningly, he backtracked in disappointment, but masked it with the next words to the song. "I can open your eyes, Take you wonder by wonder. Over, sideways and under, on a magic...er broom ride?" He finished lamely, meeting her eye with an awkward, crooked smile.

Hermione's mouth twitched for a moment as she fought to control whatever reaction was threatening to burst loose. And then all at once she was laughing, her muscles relaxing to conform to his chest as he weaved them across the sky.

He could have jumped for joy at the development, had he, you know, been on solid ground without a hunk of wood shoved in his crotch.

Instead he weaved them around the camp and back again to dance around the pyramids for a moment before touching them down on the far side of the closet one. "I find its best to stargaze when you are as close to them as possible."

"Stargazing?" She asked finally, moving to sit down on the sandy stone.

"Of course. Have I ever shown you where the consolation Draco is?" He sat down beside her, lying back with his arms behind his head to stare at the sky.

She grasped her knees, craning her neck back to join him. "No, but I took astronomy. It's that cluster of stars there right? To the north?"

He moved one hand to trace the pattern of the stars across the sky. "That's right. It's the long trail there that wraps around the celestial north pole."

He turned to watch her as she smiled up at the stars, loving the movement of her throat when she spoke. "I always loved Orion's belt and the Big Dipper; they are the only ones I can find without much work."

"You know... You can see them better... if you lay back." When she looked down at him, he wasn't sure what she saw, but she laid down next to him anyway, brown curls falling around her in a messy way that made his fingers itch to play with them. He'd had the phantom feel of her hair plaguing his fingers since she'd allowed him to touch it the first time, and now it was a horrible addiction which had him making excuses, just so he could run his hands though them.

Yes, you want her. Look at her, you know you do. It's possible she wants you, too. There is one way to ask her; It don't take a word , not a single word; go on and kiss the girl.

Draco blinked for a minute, wondering what the hell was wrong with his head that that had started playing. As there was absolutely no way he was actually going to kiss her. Not yet anyway. For one, his master plan told him to wait for a better time than 20 minutes after a nasty breakup to attempt to. For two, she would kill him for it in the morning. She may be willing now, as she was hurting, but come the sun she would be angry. And he was in no way going to take advantage of her.

My, oh, my. Look at the boy too shy; He ain't gonna kiss the girl. Ain't that sad. Ain't it shame, too bad. You gonna miss the girl.

Oh god he was getting mocked by a crab. What was wrong with him?

"Look, there's Ursa Major. On the far side of Draco. Mother always told me he was chasing the great snakes tail, since he's trying to eat Ursa Minor. It's that clump of stars right... there, see how Draco wraps around it?" He said instead.

"Oh, I do!" She said, shifting slightly to turn her face toward him, and getting sand in those curls of hers in the process. "I never thought of the star patterns like that. I always took their legends as that. I didn't even consider looking at their placement in the sky as a whole, and the stories that could be derived from that."

Don't be scared; you got the mood prepared. Go on and kiss the girl.

Oh god, why wouldn't it shut up? Bloody fucking crab. It was like it had it out for him. It wanted to ruin his master plan to win the girl. That's it. It was conspiring to ruin all his work up to now of trying to win her over by getting them working together in the first place, by tempting him.

It was not easy getting Bill to mark them as partners. It required lots of promising and some hush-hush dealings involving a pair of Weird Sisters tickets and a night in the Malfoy's French villa.

He was not going to throw all that away because a diabolical cartoon crab was urging him to swoop in for a good snog.

"There's Pegasus over to the right a ways." He again traced the pattern of the stars for her, drawing her eye to the correct cluster and viciously shoving the obnoxious singing to the back of his mind.

"You know, I always wondered: Was it a real winged horse or a Hippogriff that the constellation is named for?"

Draco's eyes shot down to look at her again, assessing the level of innocence in the comment. "You know, I've developed a bit of a phobia of Hippogriffs." He stated idly.

Hermione snorted at that, laughter tugging the corner of her mouth up when she spoke. "Well it was your fault. You boys with your posturing."

"Yes, yes." He agreed readily. "We should all be locked up in a boarding school for those horrible years where we are irrational and hormonal. Oh wait, we where. You just had the misfortune of being locked in there with us."

"Well it wasn't all bad." She twisted slightly so that her head rested on his arm too, and he allowed the movement by bringing the arm further down for her. "That time I punched you in the nose was brilliant."

"Never a more romantic scene than being called a cockroach and getting your nose broken. You must admit this is a far more enjoyable way or interacting." he knocked his head against her own playfully, and drawing a reluctant giggle from her lips. He loved making her laugh.

Float along, Listen to the song. The song say kiss the girl. Music play, Do what the music say. You wanna kiss the girl.

Holy shit, the imaginary cartoon crab singing in his head was arguing with him now. Go away! He wasn't sure how to hex a voice in his head but he was sure considering trying to figure it out. It was running out lyrics anyway; it had to end sometime.

"I never thought I'd say this, but Thank you Draco. It's definitely been interesting having a friend like you."

"Yeah?" he grinned down at her. "Well You ain't never had a friend, never had a friend. You ain't never had a friend, never had a friend; You ain't never had a friend like me."

"Oh god." Hermione groaned, putting her hands against her ears and laughing at him. "Your mind on a constant reel of Disney! You think in song, don't you?"

"Pretty much." He chuckled. Moving his free hand to tickle her arm lightly, he turned his body slightly toward her.

She shrieked and jerked back from his wiggling fingers, provoking him to come at her stronger, rolling onto his knees and pulling up his newly freed arm to attack her stomach.

"No no no no no no stop it!" She managed to get out though her giggles, as she squirmed against the stone, trying to bat his hands away.

It was then that the sky decided it was the perfect moment to open and release the years supply of rain on them,the few warning drops having been missed by the otherwise occupied pair.

She shrieked in laughter again when the cold drops hit her though her thin pajamas.

He lifted his head to the sky and put his hands on his hips. "Really? Really? We get two inches of rain here a year and you decided to give all of it to us tonight?"

Hermione just cackled at him, holding her sides, and laughing too hard for her words to make sense.

Draco looked down at her, a brilliant smile on his face while he watched her, blocking most of the rain and getting soaked in the process as he waited for her to regain her composure enough to be coherent.

Finally she wiped her eyes, composed, but Draco was sure a rightly placed twitching finger would send her over into fits again.

"Come on, let's get down from here before we catch colds."

He rolled back onto his feet, standing and offering her his hand again. She accepted it without a single moment of hesitation and he could have started singing again.

Without any further production, he swung them up onto the broom and took off into the air, zooming quickly back towards the tent city that was Gringotts base camp.

When they touched down a few tents away from their own, Draco's nose crinkled at the feeling of wet sand between his toes. " Hold on, don't put your feet down yet," he slipped off the broom from behind her and walked around the side. "Slip off the side and get on my back. Wet sand feels gross."

"Very gentlemanly of you." Hermione commended while doing as he had instructed.

"Eh." He shrugged, grasping hold of her bared thighs to hoist her legs up higher round his waist. "No use for us both to have to wash our feet at the door. Grab the broom." It was an amazing feeling, having her trust him enough, or rather being comfortable enough with him that she allowed the contact.

The rest of the apprentices breathed a sigh of relief when the two shuffled in the door, looking a complete mess; covered in sand and soaked to the bone, but laughing as if nothing had happened. It meant everything was alright, and life was going to go back to it regularly scheduled programming.


	11. In Which Wars are Waged

Water

There was a banging coming from somewhere overhead, and Hermione wasn't keen on opening her eyes to find out why; burrowing deeper under her covers with a discontented groan.

From somewhere to her side, most likely his own bed, she heard Draco jerk violently and let out a noise suspiciously similar to her own before growling out something in a voice that was sleep-rough and lazy. "Go away. Alarms' not gone off yet; you've no power here you bloody prat."

The unmistakable voice of Bill Weasley laughed from somewhere else in the room, and with it, followed the sounds of their bunk-mates violently waking followed.

She valiantly tried to ignore him as he steadily moved around the room, and she desperately tried to cling to the darkness behind her eyes when he finally came to a stop by the foot of her bed.

"Time to get up Hermione." He told her in an obnoxious sing-song that was far too chipper for the hour.

"No." she muttered petulantly. Groaning out the word again when he tried to grab at her covers. "Go away; I want to sleep." she whined pitifully; trying to cover her eyes with her pillow to block out the light in the room.

"Not going to happen; we're moving to the new site today! So rise and shine boys and girls, we've got work to do." and with that, he was unceremoniously overturning a cup of water on her face, forcing her to jump up with an indignant sputter.

"Sorry." he told the girl with red-rimmed eyes, but his tone said he was anything but. "Now up with you."

Hermione snarled something unintelligible as she rubbed one eye, moving her hand to rake through the huge tangled mass of curls that was sitting lopsided on her head. When she turned to look at the rest of her bunk-mates, they mirrored her expression of displeasure; looking just as bedraggled as she.

Draco, especially, who she'd known for a fact had stayed up into the wee hours of the morning doing something or another; his almost metallic silver-grey eyes were bloodshot and if the scowl on his lips was anything to go by, he was very close to murderous.

"We've another two hours until first call for breakfast, Weasley, so start coming up with a very impressive explanation." he snarled out, kicking off his blankets.

Sipho was doing the same, moving over to Xue's bed to gently coax her out from under the protected cocoon of her bedding. "Yes, Professor Weasel-ey; where is the fire?"

"Come on now; pay attention." he told them, picking up Hermione's discarded brush from it's place on the trunk at the foot of her bed and tossed it to her. "We're moving to the next dig today; No more training pyramids; you're on real curse-breaking expeditions from here on out so get a move on; we need to be packed up within the hour if we want any chance of getting any work done today."

Hermione was torn between excitement and the overwhelming urge to crawl back under her covers and die, but took up her brush instead like any adult would and tried to force it though what appeared to be a living -and rather angry- animal that had taken the place of her hair, and Draco, even in his exhaustion, sighed at the sight, waving his hand for Bill to leave.

"Go on and finish your preparations; we're sufficiently awake." he grumbled with a yawn as he moved to sit behind Hermione; pulling the brush from her hands.

"What're you doing?" she hissed in response, pulling slightly away from him when he positioned her so that she was sitting between his legs, looking frantically at their bunkmates who were ignoring the display of familiar affection.

"I'm doing the world a favor and waging war on the battlefields of your scalp before it rises up and eats someone." he murmured, pulling her back again and slowly dragging his newly claimed brush through her curls, soothing his frazzled nerves with taming her unruly hair. "Perfect isn't easy, you know."

"My hair is not that bad." she snapped in general disgruntlement, though she didn't pull away; Draco playing with her hair had become something of a normalcy, after all; as had their moments of physical contact.

He snorted at her; completely disbelieving of her words and just daring her to challenge him. "Girl we've got work to do, so pass me the paint, and glue." he replied jauntily when she didn't make to move away again.

Katie groaned and tossed a pillow in their general direction. "You're not going to start singing, Draco." she told him firmly. "It's too early for all that happy, boppy... muggle music."

"When one knows the world is watching, one does what one must." he crooned dramatically, his eyes narrowing as a cruel smirk curled up his lips. It seemed he was in a mind to share his bad mood, and Hermione merely sighed; allowing him to work out his frustrations at his lack of sleep on her hair.

He was reverently brushing out the knots, teasing his fingers through it to separate her curls, and as much as she hated to admit it, she could stand his obnoxious singing if he continued massaging her scalp like that. Evgeni scowled in reply to the small noise of contentment she made as he sought out his pants, pulling them over his purple boxers with a little too much force when she closed her eyes and relaxed under the other males ministrations.

"You're a prat, Malfoy." Xue hissed.

Draco continued to warble out the lyrics of the song, rather off key, and ignored the small Chinese girl as she flopped back onto her bed, covering her face with a pillow in protest. "Not for my vanity, but for humanity!" he deftly declared in singsong when he finally released his partners hair from the clutches of his deft fingers.

"Hermione make him stop!" Someone whined from across the room, and she merely snorted in reply; not thinking it would really do any good for her to say anything, but willing to humor them anyway.

"Draco, play nice."

He paused behind her for a moment, but then sighed in exasperation. "Oh alright, alright." he muttered, sounding petulant though she couldn't see his expression as he was getting up and throwing on a shirt so he could walk into the commons. "You gits don't have any since of bloody humor."

Hermione looked at her bunkmates, blinking in surprise, and Sipho's brow rose, a smirk curling up his lips a slight bit at the exchange and her reaction to it, as if he were a dog that had just found a new bone to chew on.

"Maybe, Miss Hermyony, you hold more power over your partner than you think. You should try to see what you can get away with; it's a start, after all."


	12. In Which Distinctions are Made

Breakfast

The thought was outrageous, -that she had any sort of sway over Draco. Sure they had made a deal to be civil and help each other out. One could even argue that they were growing to be close friends; what with old prejudices pushed to the side, they found out they actually got on rather well. But the idea that she had any more influence over his actions than any of the others was ridiculous.

And yet she couldn't stop the thought from rearing it's head at odd times throughout her day, reminding her of things that hadn't seemed out of place before, - their things organized together, their teamwork in altering the spellwork around the site, their companionable conversations in which he'd always gone out of his way to make her laugh- and yet forcing her to wonder if the fellow apprentice's words were actually true.

And it seemed that once the thought had been planted in her brain, it was like a snowball that just kept gaining momentum thought the day, ending finally when she and Draco were driving the Dune Buggy through the desert to the new site.

"There's something on your mind; don't bother trying to hide it, Hermione."

She sighed, propping her ankles up on the dash as she considered her options, mentally preparing a speech that came out more of a jumbled rambling as it passed from her lips. "Draco, I know we made that deal on the train, but what exactly does it mean? Are we friends now? I mean, we do a lot of 'friend' things, and I like to think of you as my friend. And we spend a lot of time together, even when we aren't working, so does that make us friends more than just friendly acquaintances? Would we even act like friends around people we know, like Harry or Ron or Blaise?"

Draco took his eyes off where they were going and just stared at her for a long moment, before laughing and shaking his head. "Is that what you've been worrying about?"

"Well, yes, in a roundabout way."

He eyed her skeptically, silently waiting for her to really tell him what was wrong.

She didn't reply for a long moment, watching the sun come up over the sand dunes as they drove, her breakfast churning in her stomach. "I guess what I'm getting at is... Are we actually friends or are you doing all this just because I'm a familiar face?"

Draco frowned at her, actually looking hurt by the question before he turned his full attention back to the road. And for the longest moment she ever thought she'd endured in his presence, he spoke. "No, Hermione Granger." he told her softly. "I'm not doing all this because you're a familiar face."

She hated to ask but she had to. "Then why?"

"That's something that I can't explain yet; another of those things that has to wait for the right time."

She frowned softly, and he offered a slight smile. "You'll just have to trust me." And when she sighed at that, he continued on, this notes taking up a jaunty, sing-song quality as they traversed the desert in the early morning light; the sunrise turning the sand a rainbow of reds and purple. "Hakuna Matata, my Dear. It means no worries."

Hermione finally cracked a smile at that, her mind apparently going back into its archives to dust off the long-shelved lyrics. "You adhere to the problem-free philosophy, huh?"

He treated her to a lascivious wink. "Well, it ain't no passing craze."

She laughed at that, closing her eyes and leaning her head back in her amusement -missing just how lighter he looked at the sound; how relieved he looked at it's appearance in the air around them. "What a wonderful phrase."she murmured, almost too lowly for him to hear.

"What?" The blonde man asked, running a hand through his short hair to try and right the roguish mess it was becoming in the wind that was carrying the strands to and fro about his face.

She shook his head. "Nothing, really. Just thinking about how atrocious and yet oddly fitting that song is."

He merely turned his head to her fully, causing her to quickly lean over to grab the wheel and turn him back on track, and he laughed at her; waiting for her to elaborate on that odd little statement.

"It does a beautiful job of highlighting 'Draco' from 'Malfoy'." she finally admitted with a disgruntled sigh.

He was inarticulate for a moment. "Come... come again?"

"Draco wears mismatched socks and sings Disney songs at the top of his lungs -rather off key, mind you." Hermione explained. "Draco makes me laugh and brushes my hair and hates my purple bedspread." she hedged for a moment then as they reached the top of the last sand-dune; the new campsite laid out below them; so very close. So very real. And ending the enlightening moment as if slamming a door. "Malfoy is a spoiled, pureblood prat who hexed my teeth and calls me all sorts of horrid things. Malfoy thinks I'm inferior to him and... Malfoy doesn't laugh. Not really."

Draco looked sad at that, flinching slightly. "I'm not really two different people, you know."

"I know." she whispered. "But there will always be that distinction in my head until I finally know the catalyst for the change."

He chuckled slightly at that, though its was a rather self-deprecating sound as he reached over to take one of her hands in his, pulling it toward him as they rolled to a stop on the edge of camp before placing a slow, chaste kiss to her flesh. As if savoring the brief contact. "Then I shall take it as a good omen that you are willing to make the distinction at all.

Though..." he paused, looking up the line of her arm to her face. "I must ask. Who do you think I am? Draco or Malfoy?"

She paused at that, watching as his face for a few agonizing seconds as it slowly closed off and he let her hand drop. Memorizing the line of his jaw as it tightened.

He had made it halfway out of his seat when she finally spoke.

"Sometimes I don't know. But I like to think you're more my Draco than anything else, even if I don't know how you came to be him in the first place. Just... Draco."

The man in question turned back to her then, an expression of wary hope in his eyes as he made his way around to open her door for her. "Then I will just have to convince you that I really am your Draco."


End file.
